People With A History: Women in the Renaissance. The Agrarian Spheres: A critical distinction: N vs. S. A Convergence of Intellectual Restrictions:

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1 People With A History: Read Paul Halsall s article: The Experience of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages. Be prepared to discuss: 1. What are some of the particular challenges to the study of gay history? 2. How did the relationship of homosexuality and culture vary across Europe? Women in the Renaissance The Renaissance figures as an era of declining status for women. As wealth increased in the city-states of Italy, it was expected that the women of Renaissance Italy should engage less and less in labor and society. One sign of wealth was inactive, and enclosed, women. Economically, women had a place in the medieval structure. As local cottage industries and family businesses gave way to factories and international merchant firms the accepted woman s role in business disappeared. This economic downturn is partly due to the conflict of agrarian expectations of a division of labor with radical changes in European financial structure. The Agrarian Spheres: A system of gender differentiation common to warrior agrarian communities from the most ancient societies: The outward-looking tasks were the province of men, but women would assist, when needed. The household, symbol and heart of social and cultural stability, was the province of the woman, with men assisting as needed. Not egalitarian by modern standards, but in the course of the Renaissance the male sphere would expand, and the female sphere contract, and boundaries would be fixed like never before. Field, Battle, Trade and Negotiation A Convergence of Intellectual Restrictions: In the Renaissance, with the recovery of ancient texts and the new, rapid dissemination of information through the trade routes, several intellectual traditions converged: The Christian Scriptures. The Church Fathers. Texts of classical antiquity in philosophy and civics. The writings of recent theologians, such as Aquinas. The scientific and medical texts of Aristotle and Galen. each of which carried with it a different set of expectations for men, and restrictions for women. (Taken in themselves, they also could contain expectations for women and restrictions for men, but they were not read this way in the Renaissance.) Humanists and others fought over how much weight should be given to each. In practice, this was a liberating process for men as the options for scholarship increased. In practice, the effect on women was to pile up a heap of restrictions, many of which were contradictory, and seriously reduce the woman s role and freedom from the medieval period. A critical distinction: N vs. S The Renaissance, intellectually and culturally, began in Italy and spread northward. The changes of the Renaissance came more slowly to Northern Europe than to the South, and some did not come at all. The south, especially Italy, was more restrictive of women economically and socially. The north, and especially England, retained more of the medieval laws and social expectations longer. The north was also more concerned with the moral authority of Christianity than was Italy, early on. The south had greater reverence for the pagan authors, and more successfully blended ancient misogyny with their own. Note: Early women s rights movements and reform movements began in the north. Another Critical Distinction: Top v. Middle The middle class as we now think of it had not yet developed. Nevertheless, there was a class between those who were fabulously wealthy (enough for their women not to work) and those who starved: the propertied laborers -- artisans and peasants. Among these, changes came more slowly in regard to restrictions placed on women. The old agrarian divisions were more practical, and lingered, to some degree, until the system fell victim to industrialization in the 18th c. (after the Renaissance). Again, the artisan/peasant class was more prominent in the North than in the South, and many changes did not make it all the way north. 1

2 Varieties of Power: It is important, given the lack of attention given to the problem of gender roles in the Renaissance for many years, to state the position of women in society in terms of our own values and expectations. Thus, property ownership is critical in feminist history as a way of comparing the status of women in the past with our own. Freedom enters the discussion often as well, with the evidence demonstrating that, by our standards, men were legally more free than women. However, both property ownership and freedom had different meanings then than now. It is important to look at the past with our modern expectations in order to see how our society developed as it has. When the past is seen in light of its own values, however, different patterns can emerge: property and law are not the only measures of power. Some are so foreign to us that it is difficult to recognize the negotiating power that women often held (over husbands, sons, and even bishops), by virtue of what we might call spiritual and emotional capital. This power waned in the Renaissance as well, but we must be aware of it, and willing to recognize it when we see incongruities like powerful women. Spheres of Renaissance activity Public vs. Private The realm of work, ceremony, fellowship, and discipline. (Margaret King) And specifically business, in the Renaissance. Intellectually, the forum for the free exchange of ideas. Arose with the development of the merchant class. An area or space where private activity occurred. The Household, or home develops as an identifiable space for human activity. Note the rise of living rooms parlors and also the Study. Private ownership extends to endowments of the arts. Coincides with the emphasis on the individual. The Spheres become Gendered: The Renaissance marked a downturn in the conditions and power of women. Men came to dominate all activity in the public sphere. In proper merchant families, women were largely confined to the private sphere. (Demonstrating enough wealth that the woman need not work.) Hence the negative implication of public woman -- a woman who does business in public, specifically with the only resources she has. Women were also viewed, increasingly, as incapable of anything but passive existence. This was fuelled by the Renaissance selection of classical ideals and expectations. A Man s World: The Renaissance, more than previous eras, favored male control and patriarchy. Women, partly as a result of the merchant mentality, were viewed primarily for their worth in trade -- their marriage value. Largely prohibited from healthy activity, the death of women in childbirth soared (along with infant mortality.) A self-perpetuating cycle developed: Women were treated as weak and confined to passive activities. Women, so confined, became weak and passive. This state was not without its objectors. (Boccaccio, Christine de Pizan) Women in High Culture High culture: the formal music, art and literature of a period, as opposed to folk art etc. High Culture and low culture can be divided along the line of public vs. private spheres. Therefore, it was assumed that men would be the primary producers of public art and literature, since they were the ones designated to function in the public sphere. Those women who were notable authors or artists were considered unnatural for their sex, to the extent that they participated in the public sphere. Patronage: Material support of the arts. One exception to the distinction of the spheres was in patronage of the arts -- wealthy women often hosted and patronized scholars and artists. The Rule of Roles Behind the gendering of the public and private spheres lies the concept of hierarchy: everything in the cosmos has its place. The natural is defined by things acting according to their designated place in the cosmos (the order of all things.) The unnatural (or perverse ) is that which is not acting according to the order of, or its designated role in, the cosmos. Male and female were more than physical facts, they were roles in the cosmos. In the Renaissance era, (and also today, whether we admit it or not) what is acceptable for people to do relies upon whether it fits the social expectations of their class and gender: their roles. Roles, in the Renaissance, were complex -- medical and religious assumptions played a part, but so did precedent. If there were classical, literary, or Christian examples to explain departures from accepted roles, such departures were often deemed acceptable. 2

3 Categories of Women, According to Renaissance Culture According to nature: wife and mother. The Holy Women (mulieres sanctae) devoted to transcending the constraints of their nature: nuns, hermits, saints. Other unnatural women, though their departures from their roles could be attributed to good or evil causes. (Examples: Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth) The Categories of Courtly Love Literature : Lady, Wife, Evil Temptress. Courtly Love A phenomenon of the courts. (nobility) Not for marriage, or for sex, but to establish a bond at a higher level. Origins in: Platonic Dualism which set the spiritual above the material. Germanic warrior culture. Cathar Dualism which regarded the physical world, and physical relationships, as inherently evil. Christian tradition and piety. The Male/Female Relationship Typified by the devotion of a knight to a lady. The lady was the giver of tasks and the holder of honor. Commissioned by the lady for a test, quest, or challenge (such as championship in a joust, or engagement in battle), the knight would prove himself and (if successful) uphold the lady s honor. The spiritual bond was cultivated, but the physical was kept in check. If a relationship became overly physical it was a failure. The Literature The ideals of courtly love were preserved and passed-on in Medieval Romances and Troubadour poetry which became increasingly popular (spread among other classes) in the early modern period. Developed particularly in the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine ( ), wife first of Louis VII of France, then of Henry II of England, and mother of Kings Richard ( Lionheart) and John of England. Emphasized to varying degrees the values of the sources of courtly love mentioned above. Promoted an ideal morality, by which gentlemanly or ladylike behavior was to be judged. Three Types of Women according to the courtly love culture: The Lady -- noble, spiritual, above corruption, ennobles the man. The evil Temptress -- dangerous, a creature of the flesh, can corrupt the man as much as the lady can ennoble him. Wife -- runs the household and bears children. Essentially sexless except for reproduction. Some Typical Tales: Arthurian Corpus Launcelot and Gueneviere Tristan and Isolde Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Dante s Inferno Spenser s Faerie Queene 3

4 Some Modern Manifestations: Star Wars Westerns The Lord of the Rings Examples of Women in Renaissance Culture Patrons and Participants Elizabeth: King of England ( ) Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Came to the throne of England after the death of her sister, Queen Mary (1559). Doubts of the wisdom of having a second female monarch ran through the court of England, and on the Continent her reign was met with Scorn. In Scotland, John Knox wrote Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women in response. Elizabeth surrounded herself with the best counselors, ensuring that they were devoted first of all to her reign. Thereafter she carefully fashioned her image to reflect that of the perfect medieval king: power, mercy, justice, and wisdom were portrayed as her key attributes. As a woman, she drew on the image of the noble lady of Courtly Love literature. She was both the protector of the realm and the virgin whom her subjects were sworn to protect. By remaining unmarried and crafting this image, Elizabeth was both the King and Queen of England. She was both a patron of the arts, and a poet in her own right. Veronica Franco ( ) Daughter of a courtesan in Venice, she was raised in the trade. Married, early on, but left her husband to follow her mother s life. As a courtesan she was outside the normal order of virtuous women. She used this to her advantage. As with many courtesans, she cultivated more than a sexual relationship with her clients. She was well-read, and an accomplished poet, respected in the salons of Venice. Not respected by all: faced the Inquisition under charges of witchcraft, and was aquitted. 4

5 Marguerite of Navarre ( ): Noble, well educated. Brother became King Francis I of France. Second Husband was King Henry II of Navarre. When young, moved to Cognac, where the Italian Renaissance was influential. Mother, Luise, saw to it that she learned Latin and read the best classical literature. After the death of her first husband in 1525, she married Henry of Navarre. She established her court as a center for humanist thought and learning. Rabelais was one of the writers she sponsored, and Leonardo DaVinci died while a guest at her court. During the Reformation she attempted to mediate between the two sides. She was an accomplished author, writing, among other things, the Heptameron, a response to Giovanni Boccaccio s Decameron. Note: Education must always be Useful What is useful for a man in the public sphere? What is useful for a woman? The answers would depend upon one s place in society. Renaissance Women Artists In the Renaissance art became a profession, and the artist became a professional. This produced a split between traditional forms of art, both religious and folk art, and the new high art of the Renaissance. As with most cases of professionalization, it was considered natural for the professional artist to be male, since it was a function of the public sphere. Those arts which were typically produced by women in the middle ages, such as embroidery, were demoted to the status of folk art. Women could participate in the art of high culture, but there were significant restrictions: 1. They were expected to work under the guidance of a male. 2. They were expected to pursue womanly forms of art, such as minor portraits, miniatures, still lifes, and interior scenes. (These female forms of art were considered inherently inferior.) 3. Sweeping battle scenes, epic depictions of myth, and complex allegories were male forms of art (and the masculinity of certain types or styles of art is still a point of discussion in art history today.) 4. They were not permitted to study the male nude form (which eliminated many types of art above.) In spite of this, we are not without a list of significant female artists, many of whom worked within the restrictions, and excelled, a few of whom defied the restrictions. Sofonisba Anguissola: ( ) Self-portrait miniature Lucia Anguissola: ( ) Dr. Pietro Maria Fede Galizia ( ) Still- Life 5

6 Louise Moillon: ( ) Peaches and Grapes Clara Peeters ( ?) Still-Life Barbara Longhi: ( ) Virgin Judith Leyster: ( ) Serenade Judith Leyster: ( ) Couple Carousing Judith Leyster: ( ) The Proposition 6

7 Artimisia Gentilleschi: ( ?) Birth of John the Baptist Artimisia Gentilleschi: ( ?) Judith Beheading Holofernes Artimisia Gentilleschi: ( ?) Judith with the Head of Holofernes Maria Sibylla Merian: ( ) (a biological study) Men, Women, and the Church The Church as an Alternative In textbook discussions of medieval society, much attention is given to the role of the medieval and renaissance Church in providing for younger sons, daughters, orphans and others who might have difficult marriage or career prospects. (This did happen.) However, a life in a monastery or service to the Church was most often freely chosen. Similarly, in most non-expert, textbook accounts, the Church is presented as a nearly irresistible institutional force, and considered as separate from people in regular society. Among historians the Church is seen as an integral part of society, which represented the common values of the majority of medieval and early modern people of all classes. Far from a unified institution, the Church was an amalgamation of many different perspectives on Christianity. Criticism of the Church almost always came from within. 7

8 The Role of the Church: The Church was the center of all religion and social life. It was the hub of the culture. There was a Church at the center of every village. There was a prominent chapel in most manor houses. (Each had its own priest, if the noble could afford it) Monasteries were special places of spiritual activity as well as the centers of learning in the countryside. Church rituals, times for prayer, and sacred days and seasons focused and regulated all of life. Christianity, and its rules, were taken very seriously by all classes (whether Christianity was understood or not) Those who pray (Ecclesiastics): MONKS ARE NOT THE SAME AS PRIESTS. Monks and clergy were the educated elite (though as we move from early to high middle ages the nobility were more associated with education as well.) Priests and bishops were male, but those were a small part of the Ecclesial culture in the pre-modern world. Male monastics could be drawn into courtly service for a noble. For both men and women, the monastery was an alternative to the domestic world, the field, and the market -- a life of learning and letters. Church orders were open to nobility and peasantry alike, but usually the positions and offices were striated along class lines (class barriers were generally impermeable.) Often a fast career track for younger brothers and sisters in noble families. Did offer the only real possibility of social advancement for the peasant classes as well (though this was uncommon.) The Inverted Values of the Christian Life To truly understand the dynamics of Christianity before the modern period, we must acknowledge that the Christian ideal turns the values of earthly society upside-down: Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:4) And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. (Matthew 19:29-30) But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Matthew 23:11) (See also the Beatitudes -- a description of the Christian ideals and their rewards) Examples: 1. Christ, who, though God, humbled himself unto death. (Phil. 2:8) 2. Onesimus, who remained a slave when he became Bishop, according to early Christian legend. 3. The Martyrs, who chose Christian death over earthly security. Implications of the Value-Inversion There were two overlapping scales of social status which were acknowledged as equally valid, though you could not follow both: worldly status and spiritual status (which had value in this world by making those who sought it special models of life.) Texts which are often taken as negative had a positive connotation in premodern Christianity. Describing someone as meek, humble, a mere servant, a mere woman, self-denying etc. was regarded as positive. Acknowledging yourself as a worm, wretched sinner, was considered admirably honest from all. Refusing positions of worldly authority was a claim of spiritual status. In early medieval France, powerful Lords increased their social image by giving their lands and possessions to the Church (whether the Church wanted them or not.) This concept was an essential part of the monastic ideal -- and the only way to understand monks is on their own terms. Monasticism: the truly single life The last great rebellion. Death to the World. Overcoming the Tyranny of Fashion. Becoming who you Are. Liberation from the sway of the world. Renouncing the world to inherit the universe. The monastery is not a place of refuge but warfare. Celibacy: the goal A life free from distraction by: The tangles of human relationships Material worries Political obligations Empty pursuits such as fame, wealth, and trivial knowledge. This freedom produces a personal space in which meditation, balance, and transcendence of merely material existence can be cultivated. 8

9 Kill the flesh to acquire a body. Sergei Bulgakov The way to God is a daily cross. The cross is the gate of mysteries. Isaac the Syrian A monk is one who is separated from all and who is in harmony with all. Evagrius of Pontus My book, philosopher, is the nature of created things, and whenever I wish I can read it in the works of God. Antony of the Desert God is known through nature: We know God from the grandeur of his creation and from his providential care for all creatures. For by this means, as if by a mirror, we obtain insight into his infinite goodness, wisdom and power. Maximus the Confessor. In Him we live, move, and have our being. St. Paul, Acts 17. The Goal (summary): Not to deny the body but to master it. Through the conquest of spiritual enemies to master the renegade elements of the self. Through humility to obtain power, through denial of the self to become one with God and creation. Ultimately to transcend all things and obtain an ecstatic union with God. 9

10 In this way, through an uncompromising, absolute, and pure detachment from yourself and from all things,transcending all things and released from all, you will be led upwards toward the radiance of the divine darkness which is above all being. (Pseudo) Dionysios the Areopagite In mystical contemplation a man sees neither with the intellect nor with the body, but with the Spirit; and with full certainty he knows that he beholds supernaturally a light which surpasses all other light. Gregory Palamas Georgios Mantzarides, summarizing Palamite spiritual discipline: These successive renunciations have a positive, not a negative meaning. They permit a man to fully open up and be perfected "in the image and likeness" of God. When man is freed from the world and from himself, he expands without limits. He becomes a true person, which "encloses" within himself the whole of humanity as Christ himself does. Modern popular images which borrowed from the monastic ideal: Gandalf the Grey: Wearing the traditional grey of the Franciscan, Gandalf, like his fellow wizards, was a spiritual being who transcended physical passions, lived a life of humility and renunciation, and was capable of phenomenal power over nature. Obi Wan Kenobi: Dressed as a desert monk, Ben Kenobi was faithful to the selfless renunciation of sex and comfort which was Lucas Jedi ideal. The spiritual awareness of the contemplative life provided him with power over lesser creatures. Finally, he exemplified ultimate transcendence by renouncing violence and stating Strike me down and I shall be more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Further reading: Peter Brown: The Body and Society Philip Rousseau: Pachomius Jean LeClerq, O.S.B.: The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. The Monks of New Skete: In the Spirit of Happiness 10